


Getting By

by IdiotApprenticeBeansprout



Category: D. Gray-man
Genre: Angst, Comfort/Angst, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 14:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1782877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdiotApprenticeBeansprout/pseuds/IdiotApprenticeBeansprout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allen and Lavi both struggle to make ends meet, barely able to keep their heads above water. Lavi lives paycheck to paycheck while doing his best to stay ahead in college courses. Allen, unable to maintain a stable job, often takes up risky temp work. Both, exhausted and slipping into dangerous worlds, hold on to and try to support each other as things grow darker with each passing day. </p><p>D. Gray-Man AU. Laven. LavixAllen. </p><p>Later chapters will be mature.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting By

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably wind up being the AU world for several stories, or at least similar. I enjoy angsty fanfics a lot, but I am always worried when I try to write one. I don't want to overdo it. So let me know if I'm overdoing it or underdoing it. Let me know if things are unrealistically dark or unrealistically light. 
> 
> This first chapter, as you may guess, is going to be a lot lighter and fluffier than later chapters. 
> 
> I do not own D. Gray-Man or any of its characters.

Allen clutched onto the rope that held the passenger door shut. Snow tried and succeeded to blow in through the windows that would never shut completely. 

“Just hold that for a second. I'm going to switch out the battery, alright?” Lavi explained when he handed over the rope he'd had wrapped around his foot. A loud click told him that Lavi had no intention of using any tools. 

“Don't you-”

“Duct tape will hold it fine. Here.” He held up his hand. Reluctantly, Allen returned the rope. “Thanks! So what were you sayin' about that kid?” He asked, tucking the old battery into his coat. 

“Um,” Allen tried to recall what he'd been about to say before the battery died. 

“About the sledding.” Lavi prompted. The engine hummed back to life. 

“Right.” The story he'd begun to tell seemed more dull then than it had before. “It isn't that funny.” 

“So?” Lavi checked the address Allen had given him. 

“I think you turn left at the next side street.”

“You planning on circling around down town before goin' home?” Lavi asked, grinning easily. Allen rubbed the back of his head, not sure if he should laugh or feel embarrassed. “Come on. Finish your story. You got to the park to pick up the trash for your community service hours and these kids were- Awh man. Hold on.” 

“Hold on? Hold why-” Lavi jerked the car left and right, tossing both of them back and forth until Lavi slammed on the breaks. After trying a few times, he got the car to move forward.

“Sorry about that. Wheel locked on me. Oh, damn it.” Lavi pulled on the rope, shutting the passenger's door again. “Almost sent you for a ride.” 

“This car is going to be your death.” Allen exclaimed, falling back against his seat, heart pounding in his chest. He'd seen a fair share of beat up cars. Starters, first cars, fixer-uppers; but Lavi's took the prize for death trap on wheels. 

“Are you shaking?”

“No. Your shocks died.”

“Awh man. Again? I just fixed 'em yesterday.”

“On your own?”

“Of course. Why would I go down to the shop for something as small as that? I've seen cars fixed plenty of times. Photographic memory. Remember?” He tapped his finger against his forehead. 

“You need a new car.”

“I need another job.” Lavi adjusted the battery. “Hopefully this thing warms up before we get to the highway.” He muttered, rubbing his hand against the coat to generate some friction. “Speaking of cold, how are you holding up?”

“I'm fine.” Allen gestured toward the coat Lavi had lent him about an hour before. 

“That thing's thinner than a sock.” 

“You must have very strange socks.” 

“Cram it.” Lavi play-punched Allen's shoulder. “So, you coming to my place or going back to yours? I could stay over.” He let the offer trail off, distracted by the wind trying its best to jerk the door open. 

“Which is closer?”

“Doesn't matter.” 

“Your car might not agree.” 

“Point taken.” Silence fell between the two for a while. The sun had long past set making deer a threat. It took a while before Lavi spoke. “Your place is a bit closer.” 

“Oh.” Allen nodded. He pressed his hand to the crack on the door. Lavi leaned across the seat to pull it away.

“Don't worry about it.” He squeezed Allen's hand once before letting it go. “We're going to my place. Gramps would flip if I left this thing on the street.”

“Why? I doubt anyone would steal it.” Lavi laughed.

“Nah, it's not that. He says seeing what I did to his car makes him sad.”

“That is his car?”

“One of his first ones.” Lavi nodded and patted the dashboard. “Sturdy little thing, isn't it?”

“Lavi, the tape player fell off when you did that.”

“Awh. Oh well. Guess I don't need to find a place to buy cassettes.” Allen shook his head. 

“I wonder if that thing would've worked.” 

“I doubt it.” Lavi looked to Allen and frowned before looking back.

“What?”

“Your lips are blue. How long were you out there?”

“Not long, really. Stop worrying.” 

“Stop worrying?” Lavi's voice almost took on an confrontational tone, but he diffused it with a laugh. “Allen, how many times did I tell you that was a scam?”

“I've worked a hundred things like that before and it has been fine every time. Besides, it was my boss, not the job. People in power-” 

“Kid, you almost got yourself killed.” Lavi muttered something under his breath. 

“What did you say?”

“I said I'd stop the car for dramatic effect, but I don't know if it would start again. Your phone's ringing again. Don't answer it.” 

“Maybe-” Without looking away from the road, Lavi grabbed Allen's face, taking care to squish Allen's cheeks if only to keep the mood light. 

“No. You are not talking to him. I'm half convinced he's got whatever crew he's got under him out looking for you.”

“Lavi, you are being ridiculous. Yes, he sells drugs. No, he is not some... Godfather figure. Now please drive with both hands on the wheel before you get your license suspended.” Lavi complied.

“Could you tell me how this started?”

“You know how I told you that I would be starting a new job soon?”

“Yeah. So his idea of a great new job was writing you on to his elite drug selling team?”

“Yes.”

“And when you said no, he decided he was going to-”

“He thought I was a threat.”

“Allen...”

“I called you, didn't I?” Allen spoke after a long silence. Lavi sighed.

“Yeah, but what if I hadn't answered? What if I was at work?”

“You don't work on-”

“I asked what if I was working, not when I work.” Allen turned his head away, embarrassment and resentment on his face. Lavi didn't say anything, but he threw an arm around Allen's shoulders. 

“If I had fixed my pocket like I had planned, I would've had my knife on me. I would have been able to fight.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“I keep my knife in this pocket, but it ripped. I had it in my coat. I'd taken it off when I went to check the kitchen. Mr. Bachman knew that.”

“Knew what?”

“That I had a knife. He,” Allen shrugged and looked to the side. “When he was making his 'business proposition,' he had it in his hand. My knife.” Lavi tightened his grip on Allen, no intention of returning to driving both hands on the wheel.

“You're smart.”

“Sure. A genius.” Allen scoffed, leaning his head against Lavi's arm.

“Hey. You made it out of there without a scratch, didn't you?” Allen shrugged. “Don't be so hard on yourself.” Lavi kissed the top of Allen's head before pulling into his apartment complex's parking garage. “Let's get some dinner and get to bed. It's been a long day.” He killed the ignition once the door shut.

“Lavi?”

“What is it?” Lavi undid the rope from his foot. Allen took advantage of his distraction to return Lavi's kiss. He pressed his lips to Lavi's, enjoying the sensation for a shorter time than he would have preferred before pulling back.

“Thank you.”

“Any time.” Lavi ruffled Allen's hair, glad that the dark from the garage could hide his face.


End file.
